Museveni credits Moi with saving Kenya from turmoil

Uganda's Yoweri Museveni leaves Nyayo National Stadium after attending former President Daniel Moi's requiem service on Tuesday. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni yesterday described former President Daniel arap Moi as a visionary leader who correctly diagnosed Kenya's problems and prescribed the correct medicine.

Museveni was among a host of regional leaders that attended Moi funeral service at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi yesterday.

In his speech, Museveni eulogised the former president and his predecessor Jomo Kenyatta, for ensuring Kenya's stability at a time many African countries were plagued by turmoil.

“In Africa, leaders are like doctors. If a doctor cannot properly diagnose a country’s problems, then he cannot treat it. Moi and Kenyatta had a prescription for Kenya and East Africa. The first medicine was patriotism,” said Museveni.

“Unlike our country Uganda, Kenya has always been stable. You had a few skirmishes in 2007, which were a joke compared to what some us went through. This means that your doctors correctly diagnosed your problems and treated you,” he said.

Museveni was referring to violence that erupted in Kenya after the 2007 disputed presidential election.

He recounted Moi’s attachment for the region and his role in the revival of the East African Community (EAC), saying the former president would request to travel to towns outside Kampala whenever he visited Uganda.

“He had a passion for East Africa. He loved the region and he wanted an East African federation. He would ask me to take him to Tororo and Mbale. One day I took him to Arua because he heard that there was a small African Inland Church there," he said.

“Moi had a passion for patriotism, a passion for East Africa and reconciliation. I saw these qualities myself. He has left, but those who have remained behind should internalise these qualities,” said Museveni.

Moi and Museveni were particularly close as a result of the former's role in bringing peace in Uganda in 1980s.

The former president played a huge role in talks that saw Museveni, then a rebel leader, sign a peace treaty with his rival Tito Okello in Nairobi, in December 1985. 

Museveni also briefly lived in Kenya, as he waged a guerrilla campaign in his country.

The relationship between Kampala and Nairobi was, however, not always rosy, and Museveni recalled moments when Moi ordered the closure of the common border between the two countries in the 1980s.

“Some people misled Moi that Ugandans were not good people. We, however, reconciled later,” he said.